My aged Kodak all-in-one seems to be dying. It has paper, it has ink, but when I try to print the paper goes through and comes out without a trace of ink on it, so I assume that the print head has failed in some way - I've done all the maintenance and it doesn't give mr any error messages. It's old enough that this isn't really a surprise, it's certainly of pensionable age

Any recommendations for a replacement, or those to avoid?

I need to be able to print, scan, and copy. It has to connect via WiFi. I'd like one that scans negatives well, though I'm not sure if a dedicated scanner is better for that?

I've been looking online, at the various reviewsCanon Pixma models are currently front runners, they duplex and are noted for good photo printing, both of which sound good to me. The scanning is going to be suck it and see I think

We have a HP Deskjet 2540 bought from John Lewis a couple of years ago ... although it says it's aimed at phone and tablet users we use it from a laptop with no problems and are very happy with it ... it does what you require (not sure about scanning negatives) and is connected via Wifi ... the ink refills can be a bit but can't they all? It will only use HP ink cartridges.

We had to replace ours a year or so ago and bought an HP Envy 4504 thru Tesco arranged to collect it from a branch of T. on the way home for Mr. Z. Like all printers, they are reasonably cheap to purchase but the ink cartridges are the money maker for the printer manufacturers.

Mr. Z. scans his time sheets and send them to his agency, very easy and initial set up even I managed. Wireless and prints well.

re negatives, you do need a special one... I used to have one and it had a little 'pocket' which you put them in. I'd love one, but couldn't find an affordable one when I bought my most recent printer (about a year ago.) We have a Samsung and a little HP. The HP one was cheap but I struggle to connect to ti wirelessly. I think wi fi connectivity is fairly standard now.

back to negatives n.b. is you buy those little free standing ones that you plug in via usb, they are no, of course, scanners. They take a (not very good) photo. I am currently making do with a lightbox and a camera, and use photoshop to invert them.

We bought a fairly expensive Xerox printer that used wax for the toner. It was great for anything that could get wet, like a map, but it couldn’t be used for anything that needed hot laminating. For all its cost, it didn’t prove that reliable.

As a distress purchase, I got a cheapish HP252 laser from Argos, and it’s been OK for several months. The aftermarket toner is hugely cheaper than the official HP stuff and doesn’t make any difference to the output. It has a WiFi link. We have a Canon scanner for scanning and copying. It’s separate because it has a “thing” for copying film. It’s fairly old and isn’t WiFi, I’m sure newer ones will be. Canon driver’s are not very intuitive. We now use VueScan for managing the scanning/copying.

we have an hp colour laserjet. bought in haste (to print his thesis when our old printer died) repented at leisure - for the last ten years. my mac says it's obsolete so i haven't been able to print directly for the past five years and have to email stuff to my partner for him to print. i know this is of no use whatsoever but it would put me off hp. i keep willing it to die!

BUT I need a 5-tank (ink cartridge) one apparently. The model all the reviews suggest is of course discontinued, according to the Canon UK site. They have about 50 Pixma printers, but I cannot select by ink cartridge. Of course not. So I've just spent 40 minutes clicking into the specs of each.

will continue to look....

At least if I get a Japanese one it may not, like the US designed Kodak, insist that all paper is really US-letter, and A4 doesn't exist, this seemed to be hard coded into its chip, and I never really found a work round, it would just about print on plain A4 paper from Word & email, but it refused point blank to recognise ISO-A4 Avery label sheets, even with manual override - more of a problem than you might think for someone with poor eyesight and lousy handwriting!

I use our printer a lot - we usually print at least 500 A4 full colour sheets a month and were regularly spending over £100 per month on replacement inks. We invested in an Epson ET 4500 last year and have cut that down to about £35 every 4 months. It is expensive to purchase - about £290 but the saving on replacement inks was a no-brainer. Quality is good.

I had a huge Epson all singing/dancing with a special bit for negatives etc. It cost a bomb to renew the toner. I looked at newer ones and went to John Lewis with a certain Canon in mind. The man there was very helpful and knowledgeable and suggested that an HP Envy 5530 would serve my needs (which included a lot of colour & b/w photos but NOT negatives). I was very dubious, I don't think he was on commission from HP and this printer cost considerably less than the one I had planned on buying.

I have been very pleased with the HP. I signed up to a scheme whereby I pay a small amount every month for HP ink and it sends a message automatically when I need a replacement which then arrives by post. The saving there has been truly amazing. My one big gripe - and if you have eyesight issues it could be a big one - is that the touch buttons have to be pressed in just the right place to work and it is hard to do sometimes. It does not have a facility for negatives.

If your old one is an ink jet, then check whether there are "cleaning" cartridges available for it. I had some trouble with my Brother DCP-195C and running the cleaner cartridge really gave it a new lease of life. Worth trying out.

If you can detach it from the computer then sometimes leaving it in alcohol can help. And some computers have what is called a "deep clean" cycle. I used that on my old Epson (or the Canon) and then printed several pages set to a black block. The first pages were empty, but all of a sudden it started again.But if it is that old, a new one might be a good idea.My "Brother" one accepts other brand cartidges and I am happy with it. at 20 € for a set of three colours and one black it is very economical.

No, it is not detachable, and I have been running the programmed cleaning cycle quite often because I don't use it that much, so I know there's a risk of the ink turning to concrete somewhere inaccessibleThink I need to call time

earthmaiden wrote:I have been very pleased with the HP. I signed up to a scheme whereby I pay a small amount every month for HP ink and it sends a message automatically when I need a replacement which then arrives by post. The saving there has been truly amazing. My one big gripe - and if you have eyesight issues it could be a big one - is that the touch buttons have to be pressed in just the right place to work and it is hard to do sometimes. It does not have a facility for negatives

Thanks, I've been a bit worried about some of the display screens, they are tiny and too faint for someone with poor contrast vision

Well, I bought the Canon TS5050 from Argos and they delivered it yesterday. I had to retrieve it from the newsagent because the delivery driver - a native Londoner judging from his voice - couldn't find the door. It's been here 160 years and few other people have an issue

However, it's a bit different from other printers I have had, so takes some getting used to, but the photo printing is great, even on Poundland cheapo 6x4 glossies, it knows about A4 and it prints Avery labels better than the big laser printer in my work office did. It does things no other home printer I've had did (err, all 2 of them) - envelopes, duplex; very basic but simple duplex - you do have to replace the paper but it's easy and it walks you through it

Set up was quite easy once I realised that the CD, the manual, and the printer display were all in slightly different order but the manual was boss and I was impressed that it picked up a Wi-Fi link first attempt, the Kodak was never very keen on wireless, essential as it has to sit on the filing cabinetthe other side of the door as my 27 inch screen takes up most of my desk.